Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 The duty officer droned on. “Brundtmann?” “In the canteen. All safe here.” “Fleischer?” “Observatory. All safe here.” Silversmith grinned in anticipation. Any…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 “James? What happened? What are you doing?” Henkel tried to struggle, but couldn’t reach anything to push off. He twitched in mid-air as…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Silversmith’s hand strayed back to the bottles in the bag for the fiftieth time. Still not broken. He paused by the entrance to the…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Silversmith lasted for two hours before saying that he’d seen as much as he needed, by which he meant that his stomach was heaving. He…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The image on the screen was in colour and good quality, but it still took Silversmith a moment to recognise the naked figure as a human…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Silversmith felt slightly sick when he pulled himself into the communications pod, and it wasn’t the microgravity. He had the feeling that what he was about to…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 And what exactly was he going to do if Henkel cracked, he asked himself? He shuddered as he remembered the Polish cleaner in Peenemünde. “From some friends,” she’d…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 “Look Max, I’m a scientist,” said Silversmith. “My job is to feed German astronauts when they take the hooked cross to Mars. Frankly, I’m a long way from being…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 “Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” Silversmith kicked off a centrifuge to retrieve a bung that had floated out of a Buchner flask. Henkel floated in the doorway, looking bemused. He…

Previous instalments: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Henkel lingered for a moment, but Silversmith said no more. Henkel pulled himself out of the octagon and Silversmith allowed tension to ebb away. Could he remember a time when it…